: (

About how I have to take a 5:20 am bus tomorrow to get to the airport.

Taxis are too expensive, and the only bus after that is 8:30 which will not get me there in time for my flight.

Looks like I'm joining the not-going-to-bed group tonight! It's either that or wake up at 4 am! FAB-U-LOUS.

We stole all the breadsticks from dinner though for breakfast.

The end is near

GO BiG or GO HOME.

we're gonna do both

Day 10 - Done with class!

Just finished class - I can't believe we're done! We did the presentations in our room so we didn't have to leave.

Last night we had the ending dinner at this fancy restaurant in Padova. We had to take a 6 bus which means we had to start getting ready at 5. The bus came at 6:45 and then we had another 30 mins to burn while we waited for our reservation. Dinner was so good!

First I split a shrimp cocktail with Marisa. The shrimp were the size of the shrimp in cat food.

Then I had pasta and little meatballs.

Then I had shrimp scampi. It was the whole shrimp. Head and all. I didn't know shrimp had claws... We made them pose..

Then I had fruit salad.

I was stuffed. The wine was free and flowing heavily throughout the table (I didn't like it, I drank water). We had a great time, someone was definitely getting a little drunky drunk (hint: she proclaimed "Everyone's getting A's! Please don't tell your parents!") Then we had an awkward waiting at the bus stop for 30 mins in the dark. We didn't get back until 12:15 am, and we had to finish our project.

I'm exhausted, but it's the last day. Home tomorrow!

xoxo S

Day 9

No time to update... Sorry!

- Waited over 3 hours today waiting for buses since the schedule was completely off for the Italian version of 4th of July
- Didn't get back to the hotel until 3 pm, when we only did something in class for 90 mins + 1 hr lunch, so we could have been back at 10:30 am.
- Had to get ready for our dinner at 5 pm
- Waited for the bus and then waited at the restaurant until dinner @ 7:30 pm
- Finished dinner at 11 pm...
- Bus didn't come until 11:30 pm
- And now its 12:15 am Tuesday and we're just getting back. We need to finish our project, practice it and get to bed because presentations start @ 9 am in our suite

Fab-u-lous.

Issues with Transportation YET AGAIN

Our problems with public Italian transportation continued this morning. It's a holiday here, so the schedules are different. We took a bus at 9 am (meaning it left the station at 9 am). I sat on the right side of the bus - the first time I had ever done that. I know all the landmarks on the left side. Apparently no one was paying attention, and we missed our stop. The next stop was about a mile down the road. So then we had to wait 45 minutes for another bus to come. 4 of the Alabama girls decided to start walking... about 5 minutes before the bus came. So even though we left the hotel at 8:45, we didn't get here until 10:30ish. The Alabama girls just got here now after they got lost walking back. So class is finally about to start... oh like 2 hours late.

The grad student is presenting today and then we get to work on our projects. We're having the last lunch at the restaurant today. Then tonight we have a special dinner at a nice restaurant in the plaza in Padova paid by CEREF (the organization here that did everything for us). We're signing cards for Piera (the one in charge), Francesco (works here, took us to hospital and Padova) and Laura (the secretary that organized us breakfast snacks every morning).

It's so humid here, my hair is so ridiculously curly. I had to fan myself when we were waiting for the bus. Gross.

Ok class is starting (I think), ttyl!

xoxo S

Day 8

Goodness gracious, where to start. I think I need to do this one in note form too because waaay too much happened.

- 6:15 - Rise and shine
- 7:30 - Bus to Padova
- Train to Deseneza aka Lake Garda (I think that's how you spell it). Get kicked out of seats.
- Walk through town, get to ferry
- Take boat to Sirmione
- Explore castle/fort and town. I'm not scared of heights, but I was scared shitless. I make it the 2nd highest point.
- Meet for lunch. Eat oceanside under vines (like the picture for the walkway to the pool)
- Waste time around town
- Take bus to train station
- Barely make it on the train. Conductor tell us that the ticket we bought which we THOUGHT was round trip was only one way. Apparently, he believes I speak Italian and starts explaining to me. I think he says 15 E... but really it was a 50 E fine. So the total was 400 E for us all to ride the train.. it should have been under 10. We get off next top.
- Find 2nd train, get on board.
- Train stops. Stays still. After 10 mins I ask Dr. Lange whats going on. We wander the train, we're the only ones on it. I find the cleaning lady. I ask her in Italian if the train is going to Padova. She reponds, "no Milano". If we stayed on there for 30 mins more, we would have been on our way to Milan.
- Get off train. See another train leaves in 5 mins. Get to that platform, train isn't there. Train isn't coming.
- Find out another train is leaving in 10 mins. Get to that platform. Get on that train.
- Train takes SO LONG to go. Seriously, slowest train of my life.
- Get off train, get on wrong side of train station aka the scary side.
- Go to the better side.
- Pay to pee (so far that's happened twice this weekend)
- FIND MCDONALDS. Buy from the 1 E menu
- Take bus to Abano Terme.
CRASH.

Now I have to work on my project and get sleep considering I got 5 hrs last night...

xoxo S

Mission Accomplished.

Grace, Rachel & I